First Live Recordings
| 1st Live Recordings | ||
|---|---|---|
 The cover to volume one | ||
| Live album series by The Beatles | ||
| Released | 1979 | |
| Recorded | 1962 | |
| Genre | Garage Rock, Rock and roll | |
| Length | 58:39 | |
| Label | Pickwick | |
| Volume two | ||
 |
||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1][2] |
1st Live Recordings is a two-volume album series released by Pickwick Records in 1979 containing live performances by The Beatles. Adrian Barber, the stage manager at the Star Club, on the instructions by King Size Taylor, the leader of The Dominoes, another group from Liverpool, recorded this on a Grundig home tape recorder at 3 3⁄4 ips in December 1962, probably during three performances at Hamburg's Star Club on 25, 28 or 29 and 30 December. Though even The Beatles thought the sound quality was too poor for anything to be made of the recording, Lingasong Records spent about $100,000 rebuilding the sound into a 16-track master. The result of their effort is this recording. This recording includes Ringo Starr on drums, making this the first live recording of The Beatles. This same recording was previously released as Live! at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962 by Lingasong Records. Pickwick's version has been slightly altered to allow for more prominence in the vocals.
Two songs on the set, "Be-Bop-A-Lula" and "Halleluja, I Love Her So," feature the Beatles performing the instruments while Star-Club waiter, Horst Fascher provides the vocals. Another cut, the only track on the set to not appear on the original Lingasong release, "Hully Gully," does not include the Beatles at all. Rather, it is a recording by Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers who performed at the club the same night.
Volume One
- "Where Have You Been All My Life" (Cynthia Weil/Barry Mann) – 1:55
- "A Taste of Honey" (Bobby Scott/Rick Marlow) – 1:40
- "Your Feet's Too Big" (Ada Benson/Fred Fisher) – 2:20
- "Mr. Moonlight" (R. Johnson) – 2:05
- "Besame Mucho" (T. Velasquez) – 2:35
- "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry (Over You)" (J. Thomas/H. Biggs) – 2:40
- "Be-Bop-A-Lula" (G. Vincent/T. Davis) – 2:28
- "Hallelujah I Love Her So" (Ray Charles) – 2:08
- "'Till There Was You" (Meredith Willson) – 1:59
- "Sweet Little Sixteen" (Chuck Berry) – 2:44
- "Little Queenie" (Chuck Berry) – 3:53
- "Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey" (J. Leiber/M. Stoller/R. Penniman) – 2:09
- "Hully Gully" (F. Smith/C. Goldsmith) – 1:39
Volume Two
- "Ain't Nothing Shakin'" (Fontaine, Colacrai, Lampert, Gluck) – 1:14
- "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" (Carl Perkins) – 2:23
- "Matchbox" (Carl Perkins) – 2:33
- "Talking 'Bout You" (Ray Charles) – 1:47
- "Long Tall Sally" (E. Johnson/R. Penniman) – 1:45
- "Roll Over Beethoven" (Chuck Berry) – 2:12
- "Hippy Hippy Shake" (Chan Romeo) – 1:40
- "Falling in Love Again" (S. Lerner/F. Hollander) – 1:59
- "Lend Me Your Comb" (Twomey/Wyse/Weisman) – 1:44
- "Sheila" (Tommy Roe) – 1:55
- "Red Sails in the Sunset" (Jimmy Kennedy and Hal Williams) – 2:00
- "To Know Her Is to Love Her" (Phil Spector) – 3:01
- "Shimmy Shake" (Joe South and Billy Land) – 2:16
- "I Remember You" (Johnny Mercer and Victor Schertzinger) – 1:55